Ensuring your photoshoot is a success rests on these four factors.
BoF’s Fashion Styling and Image Making course by Lucinda Chambers, is an online course which teaches aspiring stylists to create concepts; organise shoots; work between editorial and commercial clients; and build a dynamic portfolio that will help getting that elusive foot in the door. To view the course, click here.
LONDON, United Kingdom — The process of a styling job will start weeks, if not months, before a photo shoot takes place, and for a successful shoot to happen, the stylist must take responsibility for a large portion of the preparation, both logistically and creatively.
“When you do your first shoot and you choose those shoes instead of those shoes, that dress instead of that dress, those decisions seem monumental,” says Lucinda Chambers, the world-renowned stylist and former fashion director of British Vogue.
Indeed, making those initial calls might feel overwhelming, but the start of a styling career also involves building the right contacts, navigating a tight budget and, crucially, adopting an efficient creative procedure.
With over 30 years’ experience in styling, BoF sat down with Lucinda Chambers to hear her key insights on prepping for a photoshoot as part of an exclusive styling course.
Choose Your Model First
“I don’t think I’ve ever started a shoot, a germ of an idea, without having a pretty good idea of who really embodies that for me,” explains Lucinda Chambers, who has built her career at British Vogue and British Elle since 1980. “It’s absolutely key, and it comes almost as simultaneously as the idea of the photographer. Each season, you fall in love with somebody you’ve spotted on the catwalk or in a casting.”
When a stylist casts a model, they will be guided by budget or trend, look or geography, and the publication or audience type. For every factor, the stylist must make themselves aware of the models of the season, especially the new faces. “Often, if you’re working for a magazine, the producer of that magazine will be very involved in the casting. You come together with the photographer and it’s a backward and forward dialogue about who is best for that picture.”
Create a Reusable Rolodex of References
A stylist must not just train their eyes on the fashion industry, but also look further afield. “The process of the shoot begins with an idea which could come from the catwalk, or it can come from anything. The more films and exhibitions you see, the more you fill your head like a kind of cabinet of curiosities, stuffed with information. That’s how you’re going to edit the story that’s in your head, how you’re going to set out your stall and communicate your ideas.”… Read More
